Hair dryer apparatus



9' 1970 w. A. OMOHUNDRO 3,550,285

HAIR DRYER APPARATUS Filed Oct. 3, 1968 2 Shoets-Sheet l Inventor-f HlamA- Omohundro Attorney Dec. 29, 1970 w, OMOHUNDRO 3,550,285

HAIR DRYER APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 8 Inventor" Wnham A. Omohundv'oAttorney Filed Oct. 5, 1968' United States Patent 3,550,285 HAIR DRYERAPPARATUS William A. Omohundro, Westport, Conn., assignor to GeneralElectric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 3, 1968, Ser. No.764,747 Int. Cl. A45d 20/00 U.S. C]. 3497 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The disclosure herein concerns hair treating apparatusincluding a hair dryer and a detachable self-contained steam generatorfor applying water vapor to the hair, both of which may be usedseparately or in combination with one another.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to hair treatingapparatus and in particular to household hair dryers.

There are generally two types of hair dryers-namely, those of theprofessional type which usually are in the nature of apparatus installedin beauty parlors, and those of the household type which usually aresmall portable appliances. The professional type is massive, costly, andoperated by a beauty parlor attendant that makes all of the necessaryadjustments to the apparatus and controls the treatment during itsoperation. The household hair dryer, on the other hand, is almost alwaysoperated by the user and she makes any necessary adjustment to giveherself the desired hair treatment. For this reason, it is particularlydesirable to have household hair treating apparatus that can be operatedeasily, efficiently, and, if possible, perform several different hairtreating operations.

By subjecting a persons hair to water vapor, the cortex or hard outsidelayer of the hair is softened, and, if allowed to dry in a curledcondition, the hair will be set or curled. Apparatus usually used toapply water vapor or steam to the hair is a steam generator, and it iseither hand-held as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,832,360 and 1,907,871or incorporated into a hair treating apparatus as a permanent structuralelement as disclosed in U.S. Pat. 3,004,540. The latter type ofapparatus uses the hood of the dryer as a means for distributing thesteam to the users hair.

Prior hair treating apparatus used to apply steam to the hair haveseveral drawbacks in that they are difficult to use and they lackversatility. For instance, in the handheld type steam generator, onlyrelatively small areas of the users hair can be done at a time. When allor nearly all of a persons hair is to be set, considerable time andconstant manipulation of the steam generator is required. This, coupledwith the fact that hand-held steam generators are hot and difficult tohold results in a very tiring hair treating operation.

The prior hair treating apparatus that incorporate the steam generatoras a permanent structural element lack versatility in that all of theusers hair must be subjected to the steam since the hood is used todistribute the steam. This is not always desirable as many times onlycertain curls or areas of the users hair needs to be treated. Moreover,such permanently incorporated steam generators obstruct and interferewith the air flow during the normal hair drying operation, therebycutting down on the efiiciency of the hair dryer. If, on the other hand,the steam generator is located some distance away from the hood toprevent interference of the air flow a portion of the steam willcondense and the temperature of the steam will drop before it reachesthe users hair making the steam-applying operation much less effective.

3,550,285 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 By my invention, a versatile hairtreating apparatus is provided which comprises a hair dryer and a steamgenerator. The steam generator can be used alone in a handheld mannerand is easily manipulated to apply steam to selected curls or areas ofthe users hair or it may also be used in combination with the hair dryerto apply steam to all of the users hair. My hair treating apparatus isparticularly adapted for household use in that it is easy and convenientto use by a woman treating her own hair.

SUMMARY THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention, there isprovided a hair dryer with a means for producing a heated air flow, ahood for distributing the heated air to the hair to be dried and an airduct for directing air to the hood. There is also provided aself-contained steam generator having a steam exit spout extendingoutwardly from a boiler housed within the body of the generator. Theconfiguration of the spout of the steam generator is such that when thespout is inserted into an orifice in the air duct of the hair dryer itinterlockingly engages the wall of the air duct and is supported on theair duct without the need of any additional securing means. When thesteam generator is secured to the air duct, it expels from the boilerthrough the spout to the air duct and into the hood which in turndistributes the steam around the users head and applies it to the hair.Preferably the orifice in the air duct is located near the junction ofthe duct and hood to minimize condensation and loss of temperature ofthe steam prior to its being applied to the users hair. If the userdesires to apply steam to only a selected portion of the hair, the steamgenerator may be removed from its position on the air duct and used in ahand-held fashion and manipulated to accomplish the desired treatment.If it is desired to only dry the hair, the steam generator does not needto be removed from its position on the air duct, however, it may beremoved thereby eliminating any air flow obstruction caused by the spoutprojecting into the air duct. A cover member for the air duct orifice isnormally employed to cover the air duct orifice when the steam generatorspout is removed to prevent the heated air from escaping through itrather than flowing into the hood.

It is an object of this invention to provide hair treating apparatusthat comprises a hair dryer and a steam generator for applying steam toa users hair, both of which may be used separately or in combinationwith each other.

It is another object of this invention to provide hair treatingapparatus that comprises a hair dryer and a steam generator for applyingsteam to the users hair, both of which may be used separately eitherdetached from each other or not, or used in combination to provide ameans of distributing the water vapor to essentially all of the usershair through the dryer hood.

It is another object of this invention to provide hair treatingapparatus that comprises a hair dryer and a steam generator which may beefficiently and easily used separately or in combination with each otherand, when used in combination, they can be easily and effectivelysecured one to the other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of myhair treating apparatus showing the steam generator secured to the hairdryer.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view showing the steam generator detachedfrom the air duct portion of the hair dryer. The air duct portion beingshown in sectional view.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view showing the steam generator secured inposition on the air duct portion of the hair dryer.

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingsin detail, FIG. 1 illustrates my hair treating apparatus in conditionfor use, such as in the home, and it generally includes a hair dryerhaving a base assembly 10, a rigid hood assembly 11 to be placed on thehead of a user, and interconnecting heated air duct means 12 which maybe selectively adjustable as by telescoping to be able to position thehood comfortably on the users head. The hair dryer may be the type shownin FIG. 1 where it is contemplated to be used by placing the entire hairdryer on a table or similar appropriate counter top support and then theuser sits on a chair and positions her head within the rigid hoodassembly 11. It is to be understood that other types of hair dryers orhair dryers having different structural configurations may also beemployed in my invention and that the hair dryer shown in the drawingsis merely illustrative of one embodiment of my invention.

In the type of hair dryer illustrated, the base assembly includes ahousing which houses the usual means for producing a flow of heated airwhich is directed up through the duct means 12 and into the hoodassembly 11. The internal heated air flow producing mechanism forms nospecific part of my invention and, therefore, will not be described indetail. However, as those skilled in the art know, it usually includesan electrical heating means for heating air, electrically operatedimpeller means for causing the heated air to flow, suitable controlmeans for the heating and impeller means including a manually operatedselector switch accessible from the exterior of the base and anover-heat protector switch disposed within the base and suitable airpassages formed in the housing including an ambient air inlet and aninternal heated air outlet which communicates with the air duct means.

The base assembly 10 includes a base member 13 and a cover 14 thereforwhich are secured to each other in any convenient manner to form thehousing within which the aforementioned heated air flow producing meansis disposed. The base member and cover may be made of a rigid plasticmaterial of any suitable known type. The top of the cover 14 forms adeck 15. Centrally on the upper side of the deck is formed an air inletgrille 16. A suitable dryer and steam generator control switch operatingknob 17 is mounted on the deck and is accessible to the user formanually controlling both the drying and steam applying operations.

'The air duct means 12 comprises a plurality of rigid air duct memberswhich connect the base and hood assemblies and perform the dualfunctions of conveying the heated air produced by the heated airproducing means in the base assembly to the hood assembly, andpermitting ready selective adjustment of the position of the hoodassembly.

The air duct means 12 comprises a lower duct 18 and an upper duct 19.The ducts may be made of the same rigid plastic material as that fromwhich the base housing is made. The ducts are generally tubular membersthat are rectangular in cross section. The lower duct 18 communicateswith the heated air outlet of the heated air flow producing means in thebase housing and the upper duct 19 communicates with the hood assembly11 and is telescopically slidably disposed in the upper end of the lowerduct 18.

The hood assembly 11 comprises a rigid hood formed of the same materialas the base housing and air ducts, and includes an air duct couplingmember 20 (FIGS. 2 and 3) for attachment to upper duct 19. The hoodcomprises a pair of spaced done-like walls. The inner wall has aplurality of perforations 31 to permit heated air which has entered thehood to be distributed about the users head and applied to the hair. Thepath of the flowing heated air is shown by the arrows in FIG. 2. Ex-

cept for the heated air inlet coupling member 20, the outer wall isimperforate. The lower edge of the outer wall has a flange 34 and theinner wall 30 has a flange 32, which flanges are secured to each otherto space the inner and outer walls from each other thereby permittingair passage between the walls. The joined flanges are covered by a trimring 35. Recessed in the top of the outer wall 33 in a handle 36 forcarrying the hair dryer.

With reference particularly to FIGS. 1 and 3, the steam generator 37 isshown secured in position on the upper air duct 19 ready for use incombination with the hair dryer. The steam generator comprises aninsulated body 38 made from the same rigid plastic as that from whichthe housing is made. The body 38 houses a boiler for holding a quantityof water and an electric heater. The steam generator is self-containedin that the boiler and the heater necessary to convert the water in theboiler to steam are in the same unit and there is no need to employ anoutside heat source. A cord set 39 leading to the electric heater in thebase 40 of the steam generator is removably attached thereto by a plugconnection and the other end of the cord set is connected to anelectrical power source through the hair dryer base assembly 10. Whenthe steam generator is not in use, it may be conveniently stored byplacing the base 40 in a cavity provided in the deck 15 of the baseassembly for storage purposes. The steam generator cord set 39 may, ifdesired, be retractably stored within the base assembly 10 by providinga hole in the deck 15, such as at the bottom of the storage cavity 50,through which the cord set may be passed.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show in detail the structural configuration of the steamgenerator and hair dryer duct 19 that cooperate with each other tosecure the steam generator in position on the hair dryer. The outer endof the spout 51 carries a boss 52 on the upper wall thereof and thelower wall of the spout carries a step-like projection 53 spaced inclose proximity to the junction between the spout and the body of thesteam generator. The longitudinal axis of the steam exit spout 51 formsan angle of from 25 to 45 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axisof the insulated body 38 of the steam generator. The air duct 19 of thehair dryer has an orifice 54 through which the end of the spout isplaced for operation of the steam generator in conjunction with the hairdryer. The orifice is slightly larger but of the same general shape asthe end of the steam generator spout 51 taken in cross section on aplane normal to the longitudinal axis of the spout. The orifice 54 isdesirably maintained closed during the hair drying operation when thesteam generator is not secured to the air duct to prevent the escape ofheated air through the orifice. This may be accomplished in anyconvenient manner, however, I have found that a cover member that isspring biased to remain closed works quite well. FIG. 2 shows such acover member in its normally closed position mocnted on the inside ofthe air duct 19 by a rivet 56. FIG. 3 shows a portion of the coverphysically displaced from its normally closed position by the spout 51.FIG. 2 illustrates the steam generator in hand-held position as it wouldbe used for applying steam to a selected portion of the users hairrather than the entire head. The steam generator is also shown inposition for inserting the exit spout 51 into the air duct orifice 54for use of the steam generator in conjunction with the hair dryer. Thearrows indicate the path of the heated air flowing through the air ductand out the inner wall perforations 31 of the hood.

To secure the steam generator to the hair dryer, the exit spout 51 ispushed through the orifice 54 and against the cover member 55 withsufficient force to overcome its biased closed condition and the spoutinserted into the air duct 19 far enough so that the boss 52 is insidethe duct. The steam generator is then rotated downwardly until theforward edge 57 of the step-like projection 53 contacts and restsagainst the rearward exterior surface of the air duct 19 and the boss 52contacts the rearward interior surface of the air duct. The boss 52 onthe interior of the air duct and the step-like projection 53 on theexterior of the air duct interlockingly engage the air duct to securethe steam generator to the air duct as shown in FIG. 3. By having theorifice 54 close to the hood assembly 11 and the steam exit spout on anangle of from 25 to 45 degrees with respect to the body of the steamgenerator, as described previously the body 38 will be parallel to theair duct 19 and the spout will be directed upwardly toward the hoodcoupling member 20 through which the steam passes into the hoodassembly. With the exit spout 51 retained in the position described, thesteam 57 is expelled from the steam generator directly into the hood foreflicient distribution of the steam to the users hair and with a minimumamount of condensation and loss of temperature. In this manner, amaximum amount of water vapor is delivered to the hair of the user.

The foregoing is a description of the preferred embodiment of theinvention and variations may be made to the structure of the deviceWithout departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. Hair treating apparatus comprising: a hair dryer including means forproducing a flow of heated air, a hood adapted to be positioned aboutthe head of the user and having means for distributing air to the head,an air duct for directing air to said hood; and a detachableself-contained steam generator adapted to be alternatively usedseparately in hand-held manner or in conjunction with said hair dryer,said steam generator having a steam exit spout removably interlockedwith said air duct to support said steam generator and communieatingwith said air duct to supply steam to the users head when used inconjunction with said hair dryer.

2. The hair treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the body of saiddetachable self-contained steam generator is insulated so that the usermay manipulate it in handheld manner.

3. Hair treating apparatus comprising: a hair dryer including means forproducing a flow of heated air, a hood adapted to be positioned aboutthe head of the user and having means for distributing air to the head,an air duct communicating with said hood and having therein an orifice;and a self-contained detachable steam generator with a steam exit spoutadapted for insertion into said air duct orifice to removably interlocksaid spout with said air duct to support said steam generator on the airduct in an operative position while supplying steam to the users head.

4. The hair treating apparatus of claim 3 wherein the air duct orificeis relatively close to the junction of the air duct and hood therebypermitting steam to be expelled from the steam generator directly intothe hood.

5. The hair treating apparatus of claim 3 wherein the steam exit spouthas a boss on the upper wall thereof and a step-like projection on thelower wall thereof in close proximity to the junction of the spout andthe body of the steam generator, which boss and step-like projectioninterlockingly engage the air duct wall to secure the steam generator tothe air duct when the spout is inserted into the air duct orifice.

6. The hair treating apparatus of claim 3 wherein the hood of the hairdryer is the rigid type having an outer wall and an inner wall attachedto each other in spaced relationship, said inner wall havingperforations through which air may pass.

'7. The hair treating apparatus of claim 3 wherein the air duct orificeis maintained in a normally closed condition when the steam generator isnot inserted therein by means of a biased cover member.

8. The hair treating apparatus of claim 3 wherein the longitudinal axisof the spout of the steam generator forms an angle of from 25 to degreeswith respect to the longitudinal axis of the body of the steamgenerator.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,362,086 1/1968 McLean 34-993,086,534 4/1963 GOrter et al. 34--99X 3,004,540 10/1961 Ronzi 34--99XRe. 19,724 10/1935 Martin 34l00X KENNETH W. SPRAGUE, Primary ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

